Frequently Asked Questions About Hiring Foreign Workers in Malaysia

No. Your company employs the workers directly. APKA acts as your recruitment agency, helping you source and screen candidates and prepare hiring documents. We do not provide subcontracted crews.

A typical placement takes 8–12 weeks from request to arrival, depending on quota availability and the country of origin. We give you a concrete timeline during your first consultation and keep you updated at every stage.

We do — end to end. Our compliance team manages the quota application, calling visa, work permits and all cross-border documentation with the relevant Malaysian authorities. You never need to navigate the paperwork yourself.

Every candidate passes a multi-stage screening: skills and experience verification, reference checks with previous employers, identity verification, and a mandatory pre-departure medical examination. Only workers who clear every stage are shortlisted to you.

We recruit directly from Indonesia, Bangladesh and India, and match candidates to the language, skills and cultural fit your operation needs.

We coordinate arrival handling and onboarding, and stay engaged with a dedicated contact for both employer and workers — so any issue after deployment is handled quickly.

Yes — APKA Group is a fully licensed employment agency (JTKSWK0009-C/24) under Malaysia's Department of Labour (JTK). That licence means every placement we make is routed through the legal recruitment framework, so your quota applications, work permits and levies are filed by a recognised agency. You avoid the risk of fines, worker redep orders and reputational damage that come with unlicensed or undocumented sourcing.

We work through vetted, government-registered recruitment partners in Indonesia, India, and Bangladesh. Candidates are sourced against your job requirements, verified for identity and experience, medically cleared before departure, and matched to your operation's language and skill needs — then documented for compliant entry into Malaysia. You only interview and confirm workers who have already cleared every check.

We help employers recruit directly for plantations, manufacturing, construction and service businesses, including eateries. Tell us which roles you need during your consultation so we can advise on recruitment options.

No fixed minimum — we work with employers taking a small team of a few workers as well as large-scale intakes. Keep in mind that quota availability can affect timelines for very large requests, which we'll flag early in the process.

Costs depend on the country of origin, sector, headcount and the permits required, so we don't publish a single price. After your consultation we give you a clear, itemised breakdown covering recruitment, documentation, levies and related fees — no hidden charges later.

Yes. Replacement terms are agreed in your service agreement up front. If a worker resigns, absconds or is found unsuitable within the agreed period, we begin sourcing a replacement immediately and guide you through any re-deployment documentation required.

Work permits are typically issued for one to two years depending on the sector and the worker's nationality, and are renewable as long as the worker remains eligible under Malaysia's immigration regulations. We track expiry dates for our clients and handle renewal applications before deadlines hit.

We advise employers on Malaysia's minimum standards for worker accommodation under the Workers' Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act 1990 (Act 446) and can support with inspection preparation. Transport arrangements depend on your site setup — we'll cover what's needed during planning.

Yes. Malaysian employers must register foreign workers with PERKESO (SOCSO). As part of onboarding, we guide you through each mandatory scheme and make sure the documentation is in place before the first working day.

TMS is our proprietary tracking system for every worker we manage. It keeps each worker's documents, medical status, permit validity and deployment history in one place, so both APKA and the employer always know exactly where each worker stands — no expired permits or missing paperwork discovered too late.

Group the permits by expiry month and worksite. When contacting APKA, give your company name, the earliest expiry month and the number of permits due then. You can leave personal worker documents out of the first enquiry.

Book a free consultation through this website or call our Kuching office. We'll discuss your industry, headcount and timeline, confirm quota availability, and give you a written proposal with a clear deployment schedule. For a recruitment enquiry, include your company name, sector, worksite, roles, headcount and target start date.